Credit: stokecityfc.com
“There was once an emperor who was overly concerned with his appearance and clothing. Two cunning weavers convinced him that they could create a magical fabric that was invisible to those who were incompetent or unfit for their positions. In reality, the weavers made no clothes at all. The emperor, fearing he might be deemed unfit, pretended to see the non-existent fabric and paraded through the town naked. The townspeople, not wanting to appear incompetent, also pretended to see the clothes until a child boldly declared the truth.”
Many thanks to ChatGPT for that summary of The Emperor’s New Clothes, which is a fairytale that has become all too relevant for Stoke City over the past eighteen months. I admit, it’s a relatively loose fit. I am far from suggesting that John Coates is a vain or thoughtless leader; neither that Alex Neil or Ricky Martin arrived in ST4 intending to con the club’s ownership. Nevertheless, it’s not unreasonable to suggest that Messrs Neil and Martin weren’t all that they cracked up to be and that Mr Coates will be reflecting on the faith he has bestowed, and the catastrophe that has followed.
I cast my mind back to August 2022. Michael O’Neill had just been relieved of his duties and was swiftly replaced by Alex Neil, a man whose team had just beaten Stoke City at home (which is not a particularly rare or significant achievement) less than a week before his appointment. Stoke had geared themselves up for their fifth consecutive season in the Championship, having used almost one hundred players and three managers in that time, languishing in the bottom half of the league at the end of each campaign. Despite the philanthropy of the club’s owners, Stoke were going nowhere fast. Supporters had turned to blame an outdated manager-led footballing structure, which was causing unsustainable footballing turnover on and off the pitch. When Alex Neil came to Stoke and looked under the bonnet, he publicly recoiled and demanded that Stoke finally modernised.
Enter Ricky Martin, someone who quickly became a prominent figure in the Stoke hierarchy and was portrayed to be accountable for all things football. Stoke had equivalent roles before and since the departure of former CEO Tony Scholes: Mark Cartwright, Andy Cousins and the lesser-spotted Alex Alridge to name some examples. However, Martin appeared to have a broader remit and greater accountability across the whole club than his predecessors. It appeared that Stoke’s transition into a director-led footballing model was underway. Neil had previously worked with Martin at Norwich, who later became the director of West Ham’s notably successful youth academy. He arrived with pillars, KPIs and multi-point plans, and they were communicated to supporters. So far, so good.
After overseeing a relatively busy January transfer window, which brought mixed success in hindsight, Martin and Neil were beginning to unfurl their scheme to revolutionise Stoke City. The Summer of 2023 witnessed an unprecedented massacre behind the scenes. Every footballing role was up for grabs. Eighteen inbound players (including one that was returned to sender after six weeks); a myriad of staffing changes within the men’s first team, academy, and women’s sides; and an unusual (at best) pre-season tour in Alicante. Supporters were grateful for the overhaul at the time and were assured by the adamant Martin and Neil that they knew that these were the right steps to take. Events caught the eye of neutral media too, who were dumbfounded that Stoke were able, and allowed, to achieve so much in a matter of months. “Reset” was the buzzword of the Summer.
A reset in substance has had little effect on results. The wrath of impatient fury was never far away once the familiar scenes of on-field self-destruction appeared to be persisting. Neil was the first casualty: who gave a final crestfallen interview after *that* defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. For me, the words that are imprinted on my mind from that day were: “I feel like I’ve let John down”. Not the players he’d recruited to do his bidding, not the staff he’d brought in to assist him, and not the supporters who had been so entrusting with Neil to at least safeguard, if not catapult, their club. Neil was brought in at the first opportunity by John Coates, who was admired from afar for years. Coates was convinced that Neil was the catalyst for positive change and was willing to give his manager whatever he needed. Neil’s departure was the first strike of the knife through the masterplan.
Steven Schumacher has arrived to replace Neil, following an apparently exhaustive and holistic search spearheaded by Martin. Schumacher was and is the first of his kind at Stoke City to carry the modern mantle of “Head Coach”. He appears to be quite happy to relinquish many of the responsibilities that his predecessors yearned so much. Despite this transition being part of the modernisation blueprint, it meant that Martin – who increasingly appeared to be Neil disguised with hair, a suit, and a laptop – was ultimately in charge. He oversaw another busy January transfer window, failing to address many of the weaknesses that supporters of all Clubs knew were holding Stoke back and instead plumping for yet another freshman attacker, who has the burden of being Stoke’s saviour from relegation to League 1 with a baker’s dozen of games left to play. Martin kept his new Head Coach happy by chucking a few of his old faithful his way, whether or not they were the right fit for an already alienated Stoke squad.
With Stoke staring into the abyss shortly afterwards, Martin is gone. It’s unlikely that changing someone in his position would have much effect on results in the short term. But with the rumours of a negative atmosphere festering at Stoke and plans already underway for pre-season and the next transfer window, it’s damning that there was seemingly no choice but to act immediately. John Coates’ master plan is left in tatters, and it’s obvious from his recent appearances that he’s hurting from this. He went all in on trusting Neil and Martin to weave him his magical new clothing, and supporters remained patient as the result was paraded. Neil said that Martin would “take us to the next level”. As it turns out, at the current trajectory, that next level could be the third tier.
Stoke have had plenty of problems over the years, but the single biggest problem that’s persisted for so long is that the culture is insufficient at maximising potential. Take the 100+ players we’ve used in the Championship in the last five years: how many of those do you believe have improved or developed during their time in the first team? I can guarantee it’s less than 10%, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you were able to count them on one hand. Even with academy prospects, their progress halts the minute they play a league game for Stoke. Some have gone on to better things, but most have seen their career killed wearing red and white. Each of our last five managers has been poached from successful jobs elsewhere, where I imagine player growth has been tenfold. It’s neither a curse nor a coincidence.
I’d like to think that, with Schumacher having a much more concentrated remit, he’s got the best chance at turning the tide. But something he said was quite telling during the latest Meet the Club event. When asked where success came from at Plymouth, he responded: “everyone was pulling in the same direction”. This sounds quite a reasonable ask at a football club. Surely, we all just want to win games? But perhaps it’s not the target that’s the problem, it’s the method. Promotion is the obvious ambition, but there’s been no clear plan on how to get there. There appears to be little joined-up thinking behind the scenes, and those with any influence have been given anything they wanted. Player recruitment has epitomised this: it’s clear to see who has been the driving force behind each player’s arrival. What’s the point in going to Fortnum and Mason for Edam, Camembert and Cheddar when you want to make a cheesecake?
The responsibility of creating a vision lies at the very top. The closest we’ve had to a playing style ambition is “front-foot football”, which is too vague a statement: who wants to play on the back foot? The different styles of managers and footballing directors have enabled this high squad churn and discontent with the setup. It gives those people too much of a hill to climb before chaos ensues and they depart, ready for another naive soul to take his place. Part of me aches for how much the Coates family have spent over the years to fix their mistakes. Having said that, the fact that their biggest bugbear is that Profit & Sustainability rules prevent them from chucking even more money at the problem is completely bewildering. The days of buying your way to success appear to have come and gone, it’s about optimally utilising resources in your own way.
The appointment of Jon Walters on an interim basis has caught the eye yet appears relatively sensible. The impact of someone in his role for a relatively short time is going to be minimal. I doubt he has the remit to rebuild the football club in his vision, but rather revive the culture and mindset that brought Stoke so much success during his time here. He is not afraid of high-profile roles: he put himself forward for CEO of the PFA in 2021 and was Technical Director at Fleetwood Town through a short period of transition. His number one priority will be to keep Stoke in the Championship, and that will require empowering Schumacher and his players to maximise their potential over the next couple of months. He’s a man who made his name in professional football through hard work and endeavour over anything else; you could argue that’s exactly what Stoke needs right now.
The appointment of the new Technical Director is indescribably critical. It appears that previous Stoke managers have been able to fill this role with a character of their choosing. Whilst it’s important to have synergy between the two roles, in what other industry (or football club) do you get to pick your boss? This time, a thorough search needs to be carried out to find the undisputed best man for the job. Surely, this is the absolute best way that the club can spend the financial backing it receives, in the hope that the club will be able to reap more from what it sows. But all of this needs to come after the hierarchy takes some time to fully articulate their vision for the football club. It matters less that Stoke appoints a veteran or a rookie, and more that it feels intuitive to them to deliver what is being asked of them. It may result in yet another reset, but this simply must be for the final time. Stoke’s nine lives are running perilously thin.
There aren’t many who are ungrateful for the financial backing of the Coates family during their time at the helm of the club. Many other clubs have seen their owners fail to pay for their mistakes, and instead leave their clubs in tatters, or on the brink of collapse altogether. Thankfully, Stoke fans do not need to fear financial ruin; but plenty do question the unnecessary waste of plush funding and the poor decision-making that’s preceded it. I would suggest John Coates would benefit from advisory support, with the monumental task that lies ahead. The role of club president has been vacant since the loss of the legendary Gordon Banks. It’s a role that does not require day-to-day input but rather provides counsel on strategy and is usually filled by someone synonymous with the football club. Stoke aren’t short for legends but there’s one former, rather successful, manager whose name continues to be raised in conversation whenever a senior footballing departure occurs at Stoke. My only concern is whether it’s appropriate for a president to wear a tracksuit and a baseball cap.
As Martin and Neil leave the club with gold and fine fabric in their pockets, they leave behind a bleeding football club somehow worse than when they found it, and an owner who now faces his faithful with everything on show. I’ve met John Coates on numerous occasions and I don’t doubt that his investment, financial and emotional, comes from a genuine place. I believe he is a good man but I, like all other Stoke fans, am desperate for him to spend his and his family’s money more wisely. Stoke-on-Trent is not a wealthy area and instead relies on thriving through utilising its best asset: the combined effort of its people. Good leadership is not taking all responsibility, but empowering others to carry out a clear vision. Significant progress is being made on the non-footballing side of the club through Simon King and well-spent investment of funds, time, effort and empathy. It’s time that Stoke stands up, picks off that lottery ticket that’s stuck to its backside, and does the same on the pitch. It’s the dawn of a new era… again.
Vis Unita Fortior
